Prunella vulgaris can be found all over the place. It has also been used to treat just about everything. What else would you expect from a plant known commonly as self-heal, heal-all, all-heal, and…| awkward botany
First cultivated in the Andes Mountains of South America, the potato plant has long presented a mystery to botanists. Where did it come from?| CulinaryLore
Join Gavin Schaefer at The Maurin Academy for a botany course on native plants! Learn to plant this fall! Register as a Patreon member.| The Maurin Academy for Regenerative Studies
Golden wave tickseed (Coreopsis basalis) at Galveston’s Broadway cemeteries A few years ago, when I announced my intention to spend a two-week vacation primarily in Kansas, more than a few fr…| Lagniappe
Do you want to increase your lifespan? Let's look at some actionable methods to increase longevity, from food choices, to supplements to lifestyle choices to slow aging.| Susan Berk Koch
Attack of the alien invaders? Aliens are among us. Invasive alien species are a threat to human health and to every ecosystem on our planet. Sound like hyperbole? It's not.| Susan Berk Koch
Now more than ever, the science of marijuana needs a blog post! Why are so many states legalizing marijuana? How does marijuana affect your brain? Is marijuana even safe?| Susan Berk Koch
Mycorrhizal fungi help regulate Earth’s climate and ecosystems by forming underground networks that provide plants with essential nutrients, while drawing carbon deep into soils. Scientists and conservationists have been racing to find ways to protect these underground fungi, but they keep finding dark taxa – species that are known only by their DNA sequences that can’t be linked to named or described species.| The Global Plant Council
In a garden setting, a successful groundcover is a plant that is durable and adaptable, spreads readily, and fills in space thouroughly. The point of planting a groundcover is to cover exposed soil and create a sort of living mulch. In fact, groundcovers provide similar benefits to mulch. They prevent erosion, help retain soil moisture, […]| awkward botany
"The fear is that the world has been turned inside out, the dark side made to seem light."| Writers Review
The woods and coastal cliffs of northern Scotland contain tiny botanical jewels, but it's a real challenge to find them| The Hazel Tree
Sometimes things food-related pop into my head unbidden. Today, the word pomato made an appearance. Pomato? Where had I heard that? I looked it up and then remembered that I had started some research into this subject a few years ago. Most likely, I was distracted by some shiny object or another before writing anything ... Read more The post Will the Real Pomato Plant Please Stand Up? first appeared on CulinaryLore.| CulinaryLore
Scientists find global food production will drop around 25% in a heated world – despite adaptation by farmers and new tech. Two plant scientists explain cutting edge tools to prepare key crops for climate change. From University of Illinois, Dr. Stephen Long reports …| RADIO ECOSHOCK
Three years after the emancipation of 250,000 enslaved people in Texas (1865), the first professionally trained Black landscape architect was born: David Augustus Williston.| New York Botanical Garden
It’s the first discovery of its kind in 50 years.| Atlas Obscura
Happy 2025! Apparently it’s time for another year in review. As I said in last year’s review, 2024 was going to be another year of pollination, in which I would write monthly posts on the topic of pollination. Well, clearly that didn’t happen. After two posts, I dropped the ball. That’s okay though. Another Year […]| awkward botany
Box elder is a maple that doesn’t often get credit for being a maple. Moreso, it is a tree that is not thought highly of, and it may not even be welcome in certain discussions around maples. You could even say that box elder is a “rogue maple,” as Arthur Plotnick deems it in The […]| awkward botany
Why has this blog been so quiet lately? There are plenty of excuses for that. It doesn’t really matter either way, but since we’re on the subject, one thing that has kept me occupied recently is being back in school. I’m working on a certificate in GIS, and I’m hoping to make some cool maps. […]| awkward botany
When you make yourself the weeds guy, and the word gets out that you’re the guy to go to when it comes to weeds, invitations and inquiries start coming your way. Usually it’s just someone asking you to identify a weed or telling you how much they despise a particular plant for its weedy behaviors. […]| awkward botany
Boise’s summers are decidedly hot and dry. Months can pass without any measurable precipitation, meanwhile temperatures regularly peak in the 90’s. In the heat of the summer, multiple days in a row above 100 degrees Fahrenheit is not unheard of. Under these conditions, irrigation is a must if you intend to keep plants alive, particularly […]| awkward botany
If it isn’t clear by now from my Weeds of Boise series and countless other posts, I happen to be interested in the flora and fauna of urban areas. Urban ecology is a fascinating field of study, and I’m not sure that it gets the attention it deserves. Nature is not some far away place, […]| awkward botany
Flowers in the aster family have one of the most recognizable shapes in botany – a circle with a series of petals surrounding it. If you were asked to draw a flower, there is a good chance your drawing would look something like a sunflower, a daisy, a cosmos, or an aster. It’s one of […]| awkward botany
While we’re on the subject of pollen-gluing mechanisms, there is another material apart from pollenkitt that a limited number of flowering plant families use to link their pollen grains together. It functions, much like pollenkitt, by aiding in the attachment of pollen to visiting animals. However, unlike pollenkitt, it isn’t sticky, oily, or viscous, and […]| awkward botany
Pollination in flowering plants is the process of moving pollen grains, which carry sperm cells, from the anthers to the stigmas of either the same flower or a separate flower. If things go well from there, sperm cells will be transported via pollen tubes into the ovaries where fertilization with egg cells can take place […]| awkward botany
Sweetgum is a distinctive tree at any time of year. It stands out among most other deciduous trees with its excurrent growth habit, which gives it a narrowly conical or pyramidal shape. Only in its advanced age does it begin to develop a more rounded and irregular form. Its leaves are star-shaped with either five […]| awkward botany
Things were pretty quiet on the blog in 2023, and I apologize for that. I have no excuses really. It’s just life. Fewer posts doesn’t mean I’m any less committed to writing and sharing about plants since the day I started this project, it’s more about quality over quantity. I would never want this to […]| awkward botany
In part one of this two part series, I introduced you to the Boise State University campus, located in the heart of Boise, Idaho. I’ve been spending the past year walking the campus and cataloging the weeds that I find there. Boise has a fairly mild climate compared to the rest of Idaho, so weeds […]| awkward botany
Plants, habitat “corridors” added for first time| Southern Science
The 2025 Philadelphia Flower Show is nearly here, and we’re excited to announce that WeVenture will be launching a new tour for visitors to Philly to get the full floral experience with transportation and admission to the world-renowned Longwood Gardens! About Our Longwood Gardens: Pop Up Tour Flower and Garden Show Tour This year, we’re […] The post New Tour Alert! Longwood Gardens Pop-Up Tour appeared first on WeVenture.| WeVenture
What does it take to paint a wildflower that blooms for a single day in a deep forest? For Mary Vaux Walcott, it involved spending up to seventeen hours a more »| Smithsonian Libraries and Archives / Unbound
Argentine grass expert Dr. Cleofé E. Calderón (1929-2007) collected species, published descriptions of rare and unusual plants, and led workshops that helped shape the field of bamboo taxonomy. Affiliated with more »| Smithsonian Libraries and Archives / Unbound
A new study finds that, of the three large-scale, plant-based climate mitigation strategies, reforestation stands out as most beneficial for biodiversity. In addition to reforestation (restoring forests in places where they have historically grown), the team of scientists modeled the impacts of afforestation (adding forests in places like grasslands and savannas) and bioenergy cropping (farming plants such as switchgrass for renewable energy) on more than 14,000 animal species.| The Global Plant Council
In this episode of the Future Natures podcast, we talk to Maymana Arefin, the founder of Fungi Futures, a project learning with fungi to map radical alternative futures. The post Podcast: Fungi and radical futures appeared first on Future Natures.| Future Natures
Sasquatch, Yeti, and the abominable snowman have been the stuff of legends for generations, but Japan's snow monsters are anything but a myth.| The Treeographer
Voting for the European Tree of the Year 2019 contest has begun! Learn about all 15 of this year's candidates and vote for your favorite two.| The Treeographer
The oldest tree in Paris is a more than 400 year old robinia (black locust) brought over to Europe by 17th century botanist Jean Robin.| The Treeographer
A tree that was special to its owner was supposedly given ownership of itself, prompting the question - Can a tree have rights?| The Treeographer
A quick announcement about a new group where anyone can share their own ‘treeographies’| The Treeographer
What is a Cashew? Nut, Fruit, or Something Else? Unraveling the Mystery of the Cashew Nut Most people know about the fact that a tomato is really a fruit and not a vegetable. In your science class you probably learned that fruits come from the ovaries of plants and bear seeds, while vegetables are all ...continue reading → The post What is a Cashew Nut? appeared first on The Infinite Spider.| The Infinite Spider
In case the botanist in you needs to know… Kingdom: Plantae Order: Sapindales Family: Anacardiaceae flowing plants bearing fruits that are drupes and some being highly poisonous. Examples: cashew, poison ivy, poison oak, poison sumac, pistachio, smoke tree (native to southeastern USA), and marula (native to Africa). And btw, need a primer on pronouncing Anacardiaceae? ... Read More The post The Origin Of The Mango Fruit appeared first on Mango Maven.| Mango Maven
Every year on the 12th of February, Charles Darwin’s birthday, the scientific community recognises Darwin Day. This is a celebration of evolutionary biology and all that we have learnt since Darwin introduced us to the concept of natural selection. To mark the event, the Institute holds an annual Darwin Lecture. This is a highly prestigious […]| Naturally Speaking
Alan Weakley explains how botanists identify new plant species, their names, and the stories behind them.| UNC Research Stories
What is mistletoe? It is an evergreen, semi-parasitic, tree-loving plant that is beloved as a winter food by numerous birds and wildlife. The post What is mistletoe? appeared first on My Nature Nook.| My Nature Nook
Local mycologists suspect death caps—huge and abundant in the Bay Area—may be competing with chanterelles underground.| Bay Nature
We are almost at the end of 2022, and I do not want to let the year end without mention of this book – Braiding Sweetgrass – by Robin Wall Kimmerer. For me this has been the best book I have …| Jenny Connected
